The 2015 Ford Mustang is the Blue Oval’s first attempt to make a truly global car out of their flagship sports car. While Ford has intermittently sold the Mustang outside of North America here and there, the 2015 Mustang will be sold in Europe and Australia at the least, though there are a lot more cars on the list of potential markets for the new Mustang.
While the massive Chinese market would be a surefire hit for the new Mustang, another potentially huge market could be India. The India Times reports that a growing market for luxury goods among India’s well-to-do could convince Ford execs to import the Mustang despite high import taxes and tariffs.
Like China, India represents a huge and largely untapped market for Ford to sell vehicles to. While the Indian market still has a lot more maturing to do than China, introducing the Mustang while the market is still young could give Ford a lot more brand identity than competitors who keep their muscle cars at home. But because the 2015 Mustang can be configured in either left or right-hand drive, Ford will have no problem selling it in countries that drive on the other side of the road.
Realistically, after taxes and tariffs are factored in, Mustangs bound for India are likely to double in price at least, and Ford will probably only sell a few hundred Mustangs per year, at most, in India. But as the market matures and the middle class swells with newly-found money, the Mustang could become a car just as significant and beloved in India as it is in America.